Bounty Hunter
“''It is my belief that those in the profession called bounty hunting know the value of life best of all of us. They may not respect it, but they know what it’s worth.” : —Andrew Dernacas, in a lecture at Eldridge University in 242 NE. '''Bounty hunters' are mercenaries for hire, and are typically most well known for tracking down, apprehending, or killing a certain target. Most bounty hunters will take on various other tasks for the right price, however, including protection for clients, information and technology theft, (occasionally) assassinations, and other miscellaneous jobs. They range in skill from elite professionals to amateurs and adventure-seekers, with equally varying measures of arsenals, resources, contacts, and even political influence. The profession of privately-contracted bounty hunting is illegal in every nation except the Outcast Confederacy, although the independent world of Jaggen Sever also has no law against it; it is also practiced widely on the planet Virginis Sola, where laws are loose at best. Contracts offered by goverments, usually to apphrehend criminals, may be legally carried out. Most bounty hunters consistently work alone, only rarely partnering with others, and even then usually only for a specific purpose and period of time. Perhaps the most famous partnership of bounty hunters occured when Eve Predatori and Dreamer were hired to work together to free Empress-in-exile Rebecca Windsor II of the Terran Imperium. Prices charged for bounty hunting services range from hundreds of euros to millions, on rare occasion to billions, and on a single occasion, to 1.1 trillion euros. That highest of bounties was placed on Imperator Caria Selronis's head by the artificial intelligence known as Helen during the War of Redemption; it was eventually collected by Xyril Qeldon in 468, making him the seventieth-richest private citizen in the galaxy. Methods and Legality Methods Bounty hunters are known for the efficient, dispassionate, and sometimes brutal or lethal methods they employ in fulfilling a contract. This is often a direct result of the bounty posted: many bounties are offered to retrieve an individual dead or alive, or can be an outright kill order. Many bounties are also offered for abductions or captures. Bounties set on the retrieval of objects are not as common, but even these rarely specify that no one should be hurt in the retrieval. Because of these objectives, it naturally follows that many bounty hunters are violent, rough, or otherwise inconsiderate in their handling of target individuals. Many bounty hunters have holding cells, cages, or other restraints on board their starships and vehicles. Hunter arsenals are often of law enforcement or military quality, and many boast highly advanced starfighters or heavily modified freighters as well. Most bounty hunters prefer to attack or engage their targets on the ground rather than aboard starships, as there are fewer variables to manage, and therefore lower risk and a greater probability of apprehending or killing their target. One marked advantage of attacking a target in space is that there are fewer recording devices or scanners likely to incriminate the hunter in the attack. Bounty hunters also tend to prefer ambushes over direct fights, and may sometimes go to great lengths to avoid putting themselves at risk. Legality Privately-contracted bounty hunting of individuals is illegal in every nation except for the Outcast Confederacy and Jaggen Sever. It is practiced, however, in nearly all areas of known space with equal commonality. Most bounty hunters are therefore internationally wanted criminals, and take haven in aliases, forged documents and fake IFFs, or in systems with little to no police or military presence. Despite the profession's technical legality in the Outcast Confederacy, it should be noted that it was only the profession itself that was legal. The activities it often involved, however, were usually as illegal in the Confederacy as anywhere else. A bounty hunter in the Confederacy could be charged with murder, kidnapping, assault, the sale of sentient beings for profit, and other illegal activities associated with the trade; the difference, however, was that they could not be charged with being a bounty hunter. In the Terran Imperium, Sezhri Consortium, Ares Federation, and Crystal Alliance, a person proved to be a bounty hunter could be charged as such, often increasing prison sentences by 3-20 years and fines by 1-25 million euros. After the Outcast Confederacy's collapse in 478 and the subsequent absorption of its systems by other nations, Jaggen Sever and Virginis Sola became the only legal havens where bounty hunting remained a legal profession. Although only a few worlds legally allow bounty hunting, a great many more places serve as effective and safe bases of operations for professionals. These locations typically have minimal police or military presence (such as Kanyu or Feltristica), or may have a corrupt official presence (such as in the Alpha Centauri system or on Procyon Prime). The profession's illegality, however, does not stop many from pursuing it. Official analyses placed the number of active, professional bounty hunters galaxy-wide at an estimated 18-25 million as of 476; estimates in 553 skyrocketed to 31-50 million during the Settler's Era and its colonization of new systems and planets. By 612, officials estimated that 46-77 million people worked as bounty hunters. All reports on the subject, however, acknowledge that a large number of these hunters, perhaps even the majority, are not highly trained individuals and usually do not have a great deal of financial resources or access to restricted equipment. Most of these more amateur hunters only operate locally. Perhaps only 25-35% of bounty hunters have any degree of professional combat training, and only 5-15% of bounty hunters regularly operate with military-grade equipment on a galaxy-wide level. Organization There is no established organization or guild of bounty hunters, and no official ties that bind any of them together. What structure exists is loosely held in place by intermediaries; most listings have rankings for all registered hunters, based on number of jobs completed, total revenue, success rate, time for completion, and other factors. Although hunters by no means recognize these rankings as a hierarchy, they can be influential in garnering a reputation, and may sometimes be used as leverage in price negotiations. Alexei Ventura releases an annual listing of his Top 50 Elite Hunters, naming the bounty hunters who, in his opinion, are at the top of the trade. This list, coming from someone with Ventura's experience and dealings, carries a great deal of weight, and was actually the origin of the term "Supremacy Five." The term arose after the five hunters dominated the top slots for eight years running (from 448-455), although their positioning changed slightly over that time. Intermediaries Very often, the clients of bounty hunters prefer their identities and locations to remain confidential, for many reasons. The illegality of the trade is usually the most prominent reason, with retribution by a victim's friends, family, or associates ranking a close second. Regardless of a client's reasons, however, the solution is presented in the form of intermediaries. Clients contact the intermediaries, who in turn contact the bounty hunters for a fee and a percentage of the fulfilled bounty. If it is a public bounty (that is, the client does not care who does the job, as long as it is completed), the bounty will be usually be posted along with a long list of other available bounties that are available to any bounty hunter registered with the intermediary. If it is a private bounty, the intermediary will contact a specific bounty hunter on behalf of the client and make an offer. Clients usually have a secondary and tertiary preferred hunters, in case the primary refuses the job. There are three prominent intermediaries that act as go-betweens for bounty hunters and their clients. The first is Alexei Ventura, who has a reputation for catering to the elite, both in terms of clients and hunters. He does maintain public bounty listings, but makes the majority of his bounty-related money by negotiating private bounties. Ventura also brokers many deals of other varieties, including the sale of the Alpha Centauri System from the Terran Imperium to Erin Lavoisier. Parker's Bounty Listings is another popular way of posting and taking on bounties, but it does not offer private bounty services. Anything listed with Parker's is immediately open to any and all registered bounty hunters. Lastly, the Killscore Hunter's Board offers both public and private bounty services, but tends to be frequented the more amateur and average hunters in the trade, largely due to Killscore's unique way of posting. When a bounty is posted on their board, it disappears from the list as soon as a registered hunter declares their intention to pursue it. A hunter can only declare up to three bounties at once, and if still incomplete within 48 hours, the bounty reappears on the board for other hunters to attempt. There are other negotiators besides these three, but most are either single individuals or smaller in scope. Individual brokers usually deal locally. Specialized boards deal only in one or a few types of bounties. For example, the Seeker's Bounty Board deals only with object location/retrieval, and Elimination Central Listings posts only dead-or-alive contracts. Due to the public nature of board listings like Parker's, Killscore, and others, many bounty hunters take on an alias in the community to avoid legal entanglements, similar to an actor taking on a stage name (if for very different reasons). The real names of many bounty hunters are completely unknown, although this becomes very difficult for high-profile professionals to maintain. The notable exception, famous for his moniker, is Dreamer, a member of the Supremacy Five. Position in the Underworld Like most underworld, illegal occupations, the position and respect granted to a bounty hunter depends largely upon his or her reputation. The rankings on board listings go a significant way toward achieving this within the bounty hunter community, but those outside it may require more proof of a hunter's competence. The successful completion of an especially difficult job will often do the trick, as the capturing of the Dark Fear did for Xyril Qeldon. Landing a place on Alexei Ventura's annual Top 50 Elite Hunters list grants a bounty hunter instant recognition, and usually keeps any amateurs or even mediocre professionals from interfering with their operations. The Supremacy Five and those just below them on Ventura's list are regarded nearly as deities among the underworld, with their reputations often far exceeding their actual deeds (impressive though those deeds are). Noteworthy Bounty Hunters The Supremacy Five There have been dozens of famous bounty hunters throughout the age of interstellar travel. Within the past fifty years, the trade has been dominated by a group collectively known as the Supremacy Five. While not affiliated with each other, these five bounty hunters have earned the reputation of being "the best": Xyril Qeldon, Eve Predatori, Amber Conwell, Dreamer, and Kahn Ildretti. Xyril Qeldon's fame arose from multiple high-profile contracts fulfilled throughout his career. He was first recognized as one of the greats in 436 after boarding the pirate ship Dark Fear and took the entire crew of 200 captive. He smuggled Atticus Ryan, a fugitive from Sevrian justice, off of Jaggen Sever, an action that made visiting the world difficult for the next few years. He has completed many contracts during his career, but is recently best-known for serving as a pilot and protector for Nova Ramiran VII, and for assassinating Caria Selronis and receiving 1.1 trillion euros in return, the largest bounty ever offered. Among the Supremacy Five, he is generally considered the most skilled at combat. Eve Predatori, even more than the jobs she's completed, is known for her versatility, originality, and refusal to do anything the same way twice. She famously infiltrated Derek Brown's harem in order to locate and apphrehend an art thief, tracked drug lord as far as Virginis Sola, and publicly engaged Reuben Eldreyu in a long firefight in Atlantica. She partnered with Dreamer in order to free Empress-in-exile Rebecca Windsor II of the Terran Imperium. Amber Conwell is perhaps the least-known of the five, but this is largely due to her style. The majority of contracts she accepts deal in whole or in part with information--either its retrieval or acquisition. She was involved in some of the most prominent examples of corporate espionage in the 5th century, but by the very nature of such things, her name received little public recognition from them. Dreamer is the most secretive of the Supremacy Five, and is therefore surrounded by a sort of cult of personality. He speaks several languages (including a few dead languages), often speaks in quotations and metaphor, and only rarely wears apparel considered normal for his profession. He is also known for his skillful use of two Smith & Wesson 686P seven-shot revolvers. Although he began his career later than most in the profession do, he was launched into notoriety early on with his elimination of Matthew Sterner, an employee at the LeDaren Resort & Casino that stole several trade-secret gambling algorithms. Dreamer's career is littered by successes, with only a few failures on his forty-year career. Most recently, he partnered with Eve Predatori in the extraction of Rebecca Windsor II from her prison on Groombridge V. Despite the achievements and great skill of the four bounty hunters above, Kahn Ildretti is perhaps the most unique of the Supremacy Five. Sometimes called the Crusader, he is most known for his relentless pursuit of criminals, often on behalf of government agencies. He has exposed and/or destroyed dozens of drug cartels, prostitution rings, slaver groups, terrorist cell groups; he is also well-known for rescuing kidnap victims and hostages. Former Governor Frederick Galvan of Earth is often quoted calling Ildretti a "holy nightmare."